In the summer of 1967 I was studying the Romantics at Oxford. I lived at Jesus College, built in 1517 by Queen Elisabeth. I'd been awarded the role of Hamlet, and my Ophelia resided at Lady Margaret Hall, just a few short miles away. Just inside the main gate to the college was a rack full of black bicycles (British, naturally), single and three speeds; some with rod brakes and others with cables; almost all with leather saddles with names like Brooks, Lycett, Wrights, Middlemores, etc. I would choose my mount for the day and ride off to Lady Margaret Hall, over some of the same cobblestone streets trod by William Shakespeare. As you might imagine, it was a heady experience for an eighteen year old. My love affair with British bicycles had begun.
Twenty plus years later I was teaching at Radford University in Radford, Virginia, when the urge to find a bicycle like those I had known in England swept over me. Just as the poet Rumi promised, it turned out that the British bicycle of my dreams was looking for me. I phoned a bike shop in nearby Lynchburg and by the end of the day I was riding a 1947 Humber, known as "The Aristocrat of Bicycles."
Thomas Humber (1841-1910), a blacksmith by trade, founded his bicycle manufacturing business around 1878, having built his first velocipede ten years earlier, using nothing more than a photograph in a trade journal as an example. Tom Humber proved to be a creative, independent thinker who was not afraid to experiment with new technology. His willingness to innovate, coupled with his practical ability and insistence on maintaining the highest quality, led to the creation of some of the finest bicycles made in England at the time. Humber built ordinaries (or "Penny-Farthings"), and is credited with making the first diamond-frame safety in 1884, with wheels of similar size.
By the time my Humber was made in 1947, it rolled out of the Raleigh factory (Raleigh having purchased the firm in 1932, along with a great many other famous British marques). Still my bike retains many of the features that immediately identify it as Humber: the beautiful "Wheel of Life" chainring (depicting men holding hands around the Maypole) and the Duplex front fork, a design that originated on the Humber highwheels.
My most recent ride on my beloved Humber was a thirty-five mile tour of the Wisconsin countryside in pouring October rain, a Tweed Ride organized by Peter Jourdain (a.k.a. "Wrongway Pete") known as "The Rural Ramble." The Humber performed admirably. Next time, a rain cape!
Twenty plus years later I was teaching at Radford University in Radford, Virginia, when the urge to find a bicycle like those I had known in England swept over me. Just as the poet Rumi promised, it turned out that the British bicycle of my dreams was looking for me. I phoned a bike shop in nearby Lynchburg and by the end of the day I was riding a 1947 Humber, known as "The Aristocrat of Bicycles."
Thomas Humber (1841-1910), a blacksmith by trade, founded his bicycle manufacturing business around 1878, having built his first velocipede ten years earlier, using nothing more than a photograph in a trade journal as an example. Tom Humber proved to be a creative, independent thinker who was not afraid to experiment with new technology. His willingness to innovate, coupled with his practical ability and insistence on maintaining the highest quality, led to the creation of some of the finest bicycles made in England at the time. Humber built ordinaries (or "Penny-Farthings"), and is credited with making the first diamond-frame safety in 1884, with wheels of similar size.
By the time my Humber was made in 1947, it rolled out of the Raleigh factory (Raleigh having purchased the firm in 1932, along with a great many other famous British marques). Still my bike retains many of the features that immediately identify it as Humber: the beautiful "Wheel of Life" chainring (depicting men holding hands around the Maypole) and the Duplex front fork, a design that originated on the Humber highwheels.
My most recent ride on my beloved Humber was a thirty-five mile tour of the Wisconsin countryside in pouring October rain, a Tweed Ride organized by Peter Jourdain (a.k.a. "Wrongway Pete") known as "The Rural Ramble." The Humber performed admirably. Next time, a rain cape!
1947 Humber Roadster ©Daniel Dahlquist